Boy Scouts with Troop 368 of El Campo set up camp at Camp Strake in 1950. The property is one of the largest available tracks of land in the Houston area.

Boy Scouts with Troop 368 of El Campo set up camp at Camp Strake in...

The developer of some of Houston's largest master-planned communities has struck a deal to buy the Boy Scouts' beloved Camp Strake, a 2,083-acre site in Montgomery County that's served Scouts for seven decades.

After receiving multiple offers, the Sam Houston Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America selected Johnson Development Corp. to buy the heavily wooded property, the company said Monday. The price was not disclosed.

The head of the Houston-based land development firm, which expects to close on the site by year's end, said he would not reveal plans for the property until the sale is finalized. But the Houston-based firm has a track record of developing top-selling residential communities throughout suburban Houston, including Sienna Plantation and Riverstone.

"We know what the activity is around up there and we know that the location is great," said Larry Johnson, president and CEO.

Indeed, the deal represents the latest in a string of new developments planned or underway in Montgomery County and parts nearby.

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Track record for Johnson

Johnson Development Corp.'s roster of residential communities includes some of the Houston area's top-selling suburban developments. They include:

Sienna Plantation: 7,000 acres in Fort Bend County

Riverstone: 3,700 acres in Fort Bend

Woodforest: 3,000 acres between The Woodlands and Conroe

Tuscan Lakes: 870 acres in League City

Imperial: 700 acres in Sugar Land

Powering the area's economic surge is arguably Exxon Mobil, which is building a sprawling corporate campus just south of The Woodlands to house at least 10,000 employees.

Other commercial towers are under development in the area amid an energy-related economic boom.

The projects are fueling demand for new housing, retail and other commercial development.

"Exxon certainly has changed the game here," said Roger Galatas, who formerly ran The Woodlands and advised the Boy Scouts in its evaluation of Camp Strake.

The land, at the southwest corner of Interstate 45 North and Loop 336, was recently annexed by Conroe.

The property has six lakes, including the 80-acre Grand Lake, and San Jacinto River frontage.

The Boy Scouts did not put restrictions on what Johnson Development can do with the property, Thomas Varnell, president and scout executive of the Sam Houston Area Council, said in an email.

"We are extremely excited that the highest bid came from a local developer that understands our community's needs and has a reputation for maintaining the beauty of the property it develops," Varnell said.

Those familiar with the property say only about half of the land will be developed because about 1,000 acres are in the floodway of the San Jacinto River.

"We will try to maintain that and do everything we can to preserve what we can," Johnson said, adding that development could start sometime late next year.